


What Drew You To Him?

by Ghostinthehouse



Series: Demon and Angel Professors [76]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Professors, Disabled Crowley (Good Omens), M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostinthehouse/pseuds/Ghostinthehouse
Summary: "What on earth did you tell those poor students?" Anathema asked, seeing their faces as they scuttled past.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Anathema Device, Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley & Anathema Device
Series: Demon and Angel Professors [76]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412962
Comments: 55
Kudos: 1110
Collections: Aspec-friendly Good Omens





	What Drew You To Him?

"Dr Crowley?" one of the braver students asked, once term began again.

They were all looking at him a bit differently since the show. He only hoped it would wear off eventually. "Yes?"

"What drew you to Dr Fell?"

"He was kind." Crowley said shortly.

The students nodded at that, because it matched their understanding of what Aziraphale was like.

One of them muttered, at a level he thought was too quiet to be overheard (he was wrong), "How does that even work between you?"

Crowley skewered him with a glare. "When two grown ups love each other very much..." he began, dryly, and every student face turned bright red in a kind of wave. He paused, and they went even redder, as if they were trying to match Crowley's hair out of sheer embarrassment. "...they do the grown up thing and talk to each other about what they want, rather than to outsiders," Crowley concluded, just as dryly, and somehow all the students found a deeper shade of red to turn. He gave them all a long look, and then picked up the thread of his lecture as if the questions had never happened.

***

"Dr Fell?" a student asked.

"Yes, dear?"

"What drew you to Dr Crowley?"

Aziraphale beamed. "He was kind."

The students stared blankly back at him, because 'kind' was a word none of them would ever have chosen to describe Dr Crowley.

"Come now," Aziraphale said, "You've heard me talk about my dear husband far too often not to have heard me go on about his kindness, and his good heart." Seeing them still shocked into silence, he shrugged a little and picked up the thread of his lecture again.

***

"What on earth did you tell those poor students?" Anathema asked, seeing their faces as they scuttled past.

Aziraphale wiggled his shoulders. "Oh, just that dear Anthony is kind. Nothing they haven't heard before. They'll get used to it."

"Kind," Anathema echoed dryly.

"Oh, he'd never _admit_ it," Aziraphale agreed. He sighed. "The thing everyone always forgets is that he's a gardener. He's the same person who will take sharp, vicious, shears to a struggling rose bush, and when he's done it looks so small, and sad, and broken... and then when the weather comes round to suit it again, it quite literally blossoms. It puts out so much growth and leaf and flower - it _thrives_ again, in a way it never would without that initial vicious pruning. And because he's a gardener, he's also the same person who can re-pot a pot-bound plant, giving it the space it needs to thrive with enough gentleness and support that it takes no damage in the process. Do you see now? His students are just another of his gardens, and while he wants them to thrive in the end...." He rolled soft shoulders. "Getting there isn't necessarily pleasant."

***

"Bit their little heads off, did you?" Anathema asked, catching Anthony on the way to the break room.

He shrugged, unrepentant. "If they didn't want to be embarrassed they shouldn't have asked that particular question."

"What did they ask?"

"How it works with Angel and me." He sighed. "The thing everyone always forgets is that he's a natural guardian. He protects people however he needs to, and if he can't do it with words and a look... Well, back when I was sneaking into gardens, he was taking lessons in sword fighting. He stopped when he - ah - didn't have a sword of his own any more, but it's not the sort of thing you forget."

There was a story behind that, Anathema was sure, but if the red student faces were anything to go by, not one she wanted to ask about here. "He looks so sweet and harmless."

"Harmless-looking little old man, yeah. There's a rule, he tells me, about that. The most basic rule there is. Never underestimate harmless-looking little old men.*" He grinned, brief and sharp, but real. "Holds true with him, certainly."

**Author's Note:**

> *Lu-Tze's rule one, as featured in multiple Discworld books


End file.
